Lee Rowland: Let Us Shout Fire!
Room: Languages & Literature, 1st Floor
“We all know you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater.” This is often the go-to phrase that many people use when they think specific speech isn’t, or shouldn’t be, protected by the First Amendment. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to a free speech advocate because it always means one thing: a philosophical instinct to ban a range of speech we don’t like. However, “unprotected” speech categories have been expanded and applied to stop dissent, advocacy, and creativity. Join me in unpacking this problematic phrase - and packing the theater so we can shout fire together.
Lee Rowland is a lifelong free speech advocate and the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship (ncac.org), a coalition of 60 organizations dedicated to the freedom of expression. Lee has extensive experience as a litigator, lobbyist, and public speaker. As an ACLU attorney, she served as lead counsel in federal First Amendment cases involving public employee speech rights, the First Amendment rights of community advocates, government regulation of digital speech, and state secrecy surrounding the lethal injection process. She recently served as Policy Director of the ACLU of NY for several years, running the civil rights organization's lobbying and public advocacy work. Rowland has also taught free speech law and policy at New York University School of Law and the Hunter College Human Rights Program. She is usually looking for a new place to play bocce on the streets of Brooklyn.
Room: Languages & Literature, 1st Floor
“We all know you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater.” This is often the go-to phrase that many people use when they think specific speech isn’t, or shouldn’t be, protected by the First Amendment. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to a free speech advocate because it always means one thing: a philosophical instinct to ban a range of speech we don’t like. However, “unprotected” speech categories have been expanded and applied to stop dissent, advocacy, and creativity. Join me in unpacking this problematic phrase - and packing the theater so we can shout fire together.
Lee Rowland is a lifelong free speech advocate and the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship (ncac.org), a coalition of 60 organizations dedicated to the freedom of expression. Lee has extensive experience as a litigator, lobbyist, and public speaker. As an ACLU attorney, she served as lead counsel in federal First Amendment cases involving public employee speech rights, the First Amendment rights of community advocates, government regulation of digital speech, and state secrecy surrounding the lethal injection process. She recently served as Policy Director of the ACLU of NY for several years, running the civil rights organization's lobbying and public advocacy work. Rowland has also taught free speech law and policy at New York University School of Law and the Hunter College Human Rights Program. She is usually looking for a new place to play bocce on the streets of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Public Library - Central Library MM/DD/YYYY 60